A Japanese company has agreed to purchase Beam Inc., the maker of Jim Beam and Maker’s Mark, in a $13.6 billion deal.

Beam Inc. announced today that Osaka-based Suntory Holdings Limited will acquire all outstanding shares of Beam for $83.50 per share in cash for an amount totaling $13.6 billion. That deal is valued at $16 billion with the inclusion of Beam’s outstanding debt.

The sale was unanimously approved by each company’s board of directors and is expected to close in the second quarter of 2014.

Beam says the transaction will create a stronger global player in premium spirits with annual net sales of spirits products exceeding $4.3 billion.

Its combined portfolio of leading brands will include Beam’s Jim Beam, Maker’s Mark and Knob Creek bourbons, Teacher’s and Laphroaig Scotch whiskies, Canadian Club whisky, Courvoisier cognac, Sauza tequila, and Pinnacle vodka, and Suntory’s leading Japanese whiskies Yamazaki, Hakushu, Hibiki, and Kakubin, Bowmore Scotch whisky and Midori liqueur.

Beam’s President and Chief Executive Officer Matt Shattock and the current Beam management team will continue to lead the business, which will be managed from Beam’s headquarters outside Chicago.

“This is a very exciting development that delivers substantial value for our stockholders and creates an even stronger global company with an excellent platform for future growth,” Shattock said in a statement. “Together we will be a global leader in distilled spirits with the #3 position in premium spirits and a dynamic portfolio across key categories. With particular strength in Bourbon, Scotch, Canadian, Irish and Japanese whisky, the combined company will have unparalleled expertise and portfolio breadth in premium whisky, which is driving the fastest growth in Western spirits.”

Beam said the deal with allow the brands to grow their markets worldwide.

Suntory was founded in 1899 and created Japan’s first whisky producer in 1923, when the company’s founder, Torii Shinjiro, built the Yamazaki distillery using the principles of Scotch whisky production.

Americans may have only heard of Suntory through the fake advertisements Bill Murray’s character made for the brand in the film “Lost in Translation.”